For me, the most telling moment in Steven Spielberg\’s \”Munich\” was the final scene, when the young, distraught Mossad team leader, Avner, takes a walk along the East River with his Israeli case officer, Ephraim, the man who supervised his mission.
Even the annual Oscar competition can\’t stay clear of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.\nThis year, the brouhaha is about \”Private,\” a film centering on a Palestinian West Bank family whose home is temporarily taken over by a squad of Israeli soldiers.\n\”Private,\” the work of Italian director Saverio Costanzo, was shot by an Italian crew and was selected as Italy\’s official entry in the foreign language film Oscar category.\nIt was promptly rejected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which accepted entries from 57 other countries, including Israel and the not-yet nation of Palestine.
In his riveting new film, \”Paradise Now,\” Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad paints an ugly picture of Israeli occupation and the harsh consequences he believes flow from it, namely suicide bombers.
In an honor-laden career, Steven Spielberg has never played for higher emotional and political stakes than in his upcoming film on the aftermath of the 1972 massacre of 11 Israeli Olympic athletes by Palestinian Black September terrorists.
There\’s nothing as risky as end-of-year predictions, as 2004 so painfully demonstrated.
If the mark of a fully matured film industry is that directors have logged enough time behind the camera that one can spot personal styles emerging over several films, then this year\’s Israel Film Festival proves that the Israelis have definitely reached that plateau.
Sixty one and still full of surprises, that\’sWarren Beatty. This weekend, Beatty goes head to head at the boxoffice with \”The Horse Whisperer,\” starring that other senior iconRobert Redford. Redford, like his contemporary Beatty, not only starsbut also directs and produces his movie. May the best man win.
Sixty one and still full of surprises, that\’s Warren Beatty. This weekend, Beatty goes head to head at the box office with \”The Horse Whisperer,\” starring that other senior icon Robert Redford. Redford, like his contemporary Beatty, not only starsbut also directs and produces his movie. May the best man win.
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